WC February 23
Had a great Tuesday afternoon at the Groundlings Theatre, Portsmouth, interviewing three of the actors from their forthcoming production of A Mid summer Night’s Dream at their theatre, which is about 4 minutes from Portsmouth Harbour. This one also comes to Shanklin Theatre on Monday May 18.The star name is Steven Arnold, who played Ashley Peacock in Coronation Street from 1995 to 2010. Ashley met his end when he was killed by a tram. Steven, thankfully, is alive and well, and looking forward to his first Shakespeare role. Also in the production is Jack Tutt from the Island and Chevin Dash. All three can soon be heard on John Hannam Meets.
On Wednesday night I gave a talk at the Sandown Historical Society about the local Sandown and Shanklin theatres and some of the stars who had played there. They seemed to enjoy it and there were many questions at the end. A very friendly crowd and I was told afterwards it had been filmed. I will watch that on my own!!
On Friday I was delighted to interview Alan Titchmarsh, for the first time since 2008 when he was the Island’s High Sheriff. He was in fine form and, as always, a pleasure to meet. This can be heard on John Hannam Meets on Sunday March 8.
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Not too many were at the Apollo Theatre on Saturday night to watch Gordon Peters and David Carter present their Flanders and Swann show. Gordon, a past regular here for Island summer seasons, has lost none of his wit and was in fine form. Despite the recent local publicity there were not as many there as was hoped. The missing punters missed a very entertaining evening – with a few unexpected moments.